Of Balls And Keyholes
by MoonyAddict
Summary: There was nothing more adorable than Tonks... Except Tonks expecting his baby. [RemusTonks, sequel to Of Bees And Flowers]


"Mmmh, I _adore_ cherries!"

Remus glanced up from his _Prophet_ to Tonks, who was propped back to the counter with a huge bowl full of deep red cherries, eating them one by one with sheer delight displayed in her sparkling blue eyes.

Remus smiled, taking one moment to let his gaze linger over the impressive size of her nine-month-pregnant belly, not entirely covered by the black Weird Sisters shirt. With her beaming face and those lovely red hues all around her mouth, she'd never looked more gorgeous.

There was nothing more adorable than Tonks, except Tonks expecting his baby.

"You know, I'm starting to think you lied." He uttered, turning a page absentmindedly. Tonks didn't even raise her eyes from her cherries.

"'Bou' wha'?" she mumbled with her mouth stuffed.

A faint sneer curled up Remus's as he pretended to keep reading through a particularly boring article about Fudge and his retired life.

"About you being pregnant." He said. "I don't believe there's any baby in there, but only a bunch of cherries, whipped cream and… What was it? Zucchini ice cream?"

"Aubergine." Corrected Tonks as she laid the bowl and wobbled toward him, licking her fingertips, much to his entertainment. She went to the cupboard and reached out for a small box of cookies.

"Moony, care to tell me where the hell has any sugary thing in this house ended up?" she asked, shaking the crumbs inside the box.

Remus stared very eloquently at her rounded stomach and Tonks snorted, huffing a small lock of shining violet hair away from her forehead.

"You don't think it's a double, do ya?" she inquired, her hands worriedly placed at the sides of her belly. "'Cause it might be, since a whale would look impressively thin and graceful compared to me."

Remus just watched her study herself, secretly flashing a big inner grin of proudness. She was a lovely view, with her jeans overalls and those two plaits hanging just above her shoulders. She was beautiful, and she was his.

"It's not a double, Faye." He reassured her, leaving his newspaper to join her. He surrounded her back with an arm and placed a hand above her swollen abdomen wistfully. "A triple, perhaps…"

"Remus!"

He laughed at the terrified look he had elicited on her face and got a punch in the arm for his insolence.

They stayed like this for a while, simply enjoying the small, lazy movements of the baby under the fabric of Tonks' overalls, then she turned to him, suddenly looking concerned.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to do this, Moony." She said, biting her lower lip.

"Define _this_."

"The whole baby thing." She said impatiently. "Labour, contractions, birth and such… I mean, look at me! I look like I've swallowed an elephant, how on earth am I supposed to – well – s_pit it out_?"

Remus decided he'd better not laugh again. He rubbed her back gently and smiled soothingly, stopping her from biting at her nails.

"I was sure Molly had been quite clear with this kind of explanations…"

"Clear as the sky," she retorted dryly. "But – seriously, Remus – I'm not sure I got all the precise dynamics of _how_… How can you possibly push a – a ball out of a keyhole?"

"Magic, I suppose?" He quipped, unable to hide a subtle mischievous expression. "Relax, baby, we've still got plenty of time to –"

"A week."

"Yeah, well –"

"And _you_ have no-bloody-thing to run, as a matter of fact." She cut in, slipping out of his arms. "It's _me_ who spent ages throwing up my guts!" she bellowed. "It's me who carried this titanic belly around for _nine_ months, it's _my_ back that's aching like hell, _my_ butt that looks bigger than –"

Remus had closed her mouth with a hand and was now pulling her back in a hug, smiling indulgently.

"I think I got it, honey." He said, well trained, by now, to deal with her mood swings. "And you are quite right, the merit is all yours."

Tonks nestled her head against his armpit, her fingers brushing over his chest, a half smirk on her lips.

"I am pretty sure it wasn't just me, nine months ago, on the sofa at the Burrow…"

The mere recollection of the event made Remus laugh mildly. They surely couldn't have found a more unhandy – and more enticing – place to celebrate Christmas, but the uncosiness of the couch had been rather negligible, especially given the peculiar gift that had ensued from the whole night.

"I vaguely remember you whispering somebody's name, now that you remind me…"

Tonks tutted, arching her eyebrows in his direction.

"Mere whispers wouldn't have awoken Crooskshanks… And Merlin knows who else."

"You think?"

But Tonks wasn't listening anymore. All her attention was enthusiastically focused on her gigantic stomach, where her hands lay attentively, her eyes wide in amazement.

"Geez, this kiddo has loads of energy!" she exclaimed gingerly, driving Remus' hand to a very precise spot. "Here, feel it?"

Of course Remus felt it. The baby was kicking so hard that he feared it might hurt Tonks.

He had past the last few months marvelling at the sensation of feeling his child move under his own and Tonks' palms, but neither of them ever seemed to get used to it. It was like witnessing to some kind of wonder every time.

"As wild as Mummy, uh?" he quipped. Tonks rolled her eyes, giggling.

"The pot calling the kettle black, Mr Werewolf?"

Remus felt his heart skip a beat for a fleeting moment. He remember how distraught Tonks had been when she told him she was pregnant. The fear of his reaction- the possibility the baby could have been a werewolf – had nearly driven her to thinking of the worst. But once again, destiny had seemed to be particularly generous with him, and it wasn't long before they found out their baby would be nothing other than a kid like any other.

"Do you even realise how much you've done for me?" he whispered, after skimming her temple with a soft kiss.

"Precisely what you did for me, Moony."

But Remus shook his head.

"No, it's different for you." He sighed. "You could have had any man you'd want, there are thousands of men who could have made you happy… Isn't it funny how you chose the only one who really needed to be found?"

Tonks hugged him tighter and smiled up at him.

"Not this funny, actually." She replied. "You needed to be found as much as I needed to find you."

A short silence followed, during which Remus found himself overwhelmed by the awareness of how lucky he was.

Had anyone told him he would be so happy, married to a woman who loved him more than anything else and with a baby on the way, he was sure he would have laughed, bitterly and sadly, but he certainly would have scoffed at such an unlikely prediction.

But now here he was, immersed in the most concrete embrace in the world, holding in his arms everything he lived for.

"Mmmh, you smell of vanilla, Moony." Tonks mumbled, nuzzling her face into his neck. By her tone, Remus immediately detected the upcoming request.

"I really feel like having a chocolate chip vanilla cupcake, you know?" she added one moment later. "And some chilli sauce, maybe."

Remus gulped, frowning.

"Chilli sauce?"

"Yup. With nachos, possibly."

"_And_ a chocolate chip vanilla cupcake?"

Tonks' eyes shimmered greedily.

"Yes!"

"Right."

A quick wave of Remus' wand, and all the desired food appeared out of thin air directly in Tonks' hands.

"Yay!" She smacked a cherry kiss on his lips and ran to the table at once, sinking in the first chair in her reach with the usual difficulty.

Her movements had become clumsier and clumsier through the months, but she hadn't lost her vitality and enthusiasm. If possible, in fact, she was even more cheerful than usual.

"I have this theory," she said, turning back to him chewing crispy nachos. "If I get very fat and very large by the deadline of the pregnancy, maybe the whole process will be easier…"

Remus scowled questioningly, taking a seat in front of her.

"Yeah, I mean… The baby won't get bigger along with me, right? So, if the door gets bigger, even the keyhole will, and the ball will be squashed through it way more easily…"

Remus stared for a few seconds at her hopeful and serious face, taking in every single inch of her, from her chocolate tinted lips, to her rosy full cheeks, to her stunning huge eyes.

Everything he could think of was that he loved her.

"Won't it?" she insisted, a bit discouraged by his hesitance.

Remus awakened from his musings and cleared his throat.

"I've got the feeling it doesn't exactly work like this, honey."

Tonks stopped eating, now looking disappointed. Remus placed his hand over hers and gave her a comforting smile when he noticed another mood swing was about to kick in.

"Everything will be alright, trust me." he told her. "I'll be there with you all along."

This seemed to cool down Tonks' imminent explosion. She nodded, lips pressed together, and took the cupcake to her mouth, observing it thoughtfully before taking a bite.

"I see your point," she said quietly. "I would be upset, too, if my wife threatened to binge to obesity."

A hearty laugh rose from Remus' chest and left his lips, despite his attempt to prevent it. It was just amazing.

Not only had this girl changed his life completely, turning it upside down in a blink, but she had even saved him for a future of loneliness he would have never been able to flee from by himself.

"Don't laugh!" she swatted his arm indignantly – as much as she could with her mouth full of cupcake. "I'm serious!"

"That's why I'm laughing, sweetheart." He replied, as the laughter died off. Tonks glared at him with an offended pout.

"Fine," she bubbled flatly, facing away. "Gibe at your pregnant wifie, she doesn't feel downcast enough!"

"Forgive me," he interjected sweetly. "But you have always had this ineluctable effect on me."

Temporarily setting aside her pout, Tonks addressed him an inquiring look, tilting her head to one side.

"What effect?"

Remus leant forward and cupped her face with his hand, smiling blissfully.

"The Nymphadora Tonks Effect, " he explained, kissing her. "The Happiness Effect."

She smiled back, even more broadly than him, and mocked a thoughtful face.

"Weird… I thought that was called the Remus Lupin Effect."

They started kissing across the small table, more and more deeply. Remus shifted his hands from her cheeks to her neck, pulling her closer as she stood up and went sitting on his lap.

"Moony?"

Remus didn't want to break the kiss; he inhaled her scent and kept tasting her, more and more eagerly.

"Mmmh?"

"Will you play the keyhole, next time?"


End file.
